How Civil Society-based Truth Commissions Emerge: The Case of the Mississippi Truth Commission

• In Event: 449 - Section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Social Movements of Peace and War

Abstract

Using Event Structure Analysis, I examine how the Mississippi Truth Commission emerged in 2005 despite previous failed attempts. This paper argues that the truth commission emerged as a result of the convergence of local and global developments. By 2004 the global norm of “truth-telling” was firmly established, as was an international network of practitioners poised to support local truth-telling efforts. For a truth commission to emerge in Mississippi, however, the local environment had to be primed. The 40th anniversary commemoration of the “Mississippi Burning” murders and subsequent trial of Edgar Ray Killen, the mastermind behind the murders, helped shift opportunity structures across the state and mobilize local mnemonic entrepreneurs who would ultimately bring the Mississippi Truth Commission to fruition—at least to a point.

Author

• Claire Whitlinger, Furman University